Thank you for visiting the ISU Ed. Leadershop. Our intent over the past few years has been to field-test community-engaged writings for PK-20 practitioner conversation -- quick, 5-minute "read's" that help put into perspective the challenges and opportunities in our profession. Some of the writings have remained here solely; others have been developed further for other outlets. Our space has been a delightful "sketch board" for some very creative minds in leadership, indeed.

We believe that by kicking around an idea or two and not getting too worked-up over it, the thinking and writing involved have even greater potential to make a difference on behalf of those we serve. In such, please give us a read; share with others. We encourage your thoughts, opinions, feelings, and reactions to our work and thank you for taking your time. You keep us relevant.

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Wednesday, February 10, 2016

We Know Why the Caged Bird Sings

We Know Why the Caged
Bird Sings

By Erica
Buchanan-Rivera

Director of
Curriculum and Instruction &

Elementary Principal

Traders Point
Christian Academy

Ph.D. Student

Department of
Educational Leadership

Bayh College of
Education

Indiana State
University

&

Ryan Donlan

Assistant Professor

Department of
Educational Leadership

Bayh College of
Education

Indiana State
University

Excerpt from I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya
Angelou

The caged bird sings

with a fearful trill

of things unknown

but longed for still

and his tune is heard

on the distant hill

for the caged bird

sings of freedom.

Do children, at times, assume roles as
caged birds within our educational settings?

In so far that schools operate as
political systems under principles of conformity and assimilation, this can
certainly be argued. Consider how social
contexts and living experiences of children can collide with the norms of
school – compounded as well by the
diversification of norms and folkways within any given facility, including those
pertaining to classroom, cafeteria, recess, and hallway procedures.

Cultural values, language, and
opportunities for connectivity (a.k.a. foundational aspects of learning) can
be, without consideration of the whole child, disregarded for test preparation,
rote memorization, and expectations of compliance. Our caged birds are forced
to play a game called school, despite the perplexity of its rules and the untended
cracks within its foundation.

Educators possess the abilities to
repair the foundation, and certainly, the keys to unlock our caged birds.

Do we use them?

We hold the power to transfer children
from a realm of despair, or even a malaise of ambivalence, to a world of
possibilities. This transference involves first listening carefully for the unheard
tunes of children and then amplifying them under sound leadership and
management at the district, building, and classroom levels.It could be said that the pensive trills of the
endangered Piping Plover can transcend into a voice heard in a world of better
listeners.Imagine if it were able,
through an insatiable passion, to unravel its future. Although educators hold
the power to dismantle the cage, we must understand the conditions of our birds
while encouraging them to freedom.

Do you know why the caged bird sings?

The caged bird, our student, sings for
identity. Students desire to see their strengths mirrored within the
classroom.They desire to be noticed by
a teacher-as-talent-scout.Children want
to be recognized for their contributions, thoughts, feelings, and the aspects
that make them unique. They want educators to see and affirm their beautiful
intersections of cultural autobiography that incorporate race, ethnicity,
language, and familial traditions – their
stories, as each story shapes the way they respond and interact socially. If
we understand student identity, we can dismantle the bars that sustain the
cage.

We can encourage ascension.

Do you know why the caged bird sings?

The student sings for authenticity. As
educational leaders, we must create a space within learning environments where
students can construct personally meaningful knowledge that generates
representations of their learning. Building upon our last point, the
environment should be characterized as identity
safe. Our children are capable of
devising questions that drive instruction rather than submitting to mundane prescription.
Have the dittos and worksheets of the
past been replaced only with a pacing guide? Or are we allowing that which makes students
unique to chart a course? Students yearn to learn through meaningful
experiences and discussions that elicit multiple perspectives. Environments supporting
inquiry-based learning can honor children’s rights to imagine and investigate.
And it is important to note that students are capable learning from their
mistakes. Authenticity requires productive struggle, and a child’s failing
forward should be celebrated.The caged
bird wants its individualized flight plan honored, with our acceptance of the wind,
leaves, gravel, and dirt stirred up along the way.

Do you know why the caged bird sings?

Students sing, hopeful that in school, they
can develop images of self-worth. They want unconditional positive regard, for
who they are.Children intuitively know
when educators demonstrate care, or conversely, dismissiveness.They intrinsically protect their well being,
either by allowing others in, or shutting others out.It sounds odd, but in the worst of
circumstances, their cages – as stifling as they are – protect them from
harm.Harm comes in all shapes and sizes,
as does a child’s self-worth.Educators
are in an instrumental position to affirm a child’s positive self-worth, and
through such, foster student potential. Self-worth is a foundational component
of self-efficacy, and with this efficacy, children
are capable of embracing new challenges. As classrooms serve a window through which our
beliefs become overt, the educators within who harmonize their beliefs with the
songs of children transcend barriers that hinder learning.

What is
your song of advocacy for the caged bird?

We believe that children are
spiritual, worthwhile, reflective, exploratory, intellectual, creative,
needy-yet-powerful beings who consistently try to make sense of their
worlds.They portray and have an
inherent aura of innocence, which unconsciously enables them to embrace the
values of acceptance, trust, and diversity. They are in a place where if allowed
to interact authentically, they will develop the desired sense of
identity.Children investigate their curiosities
and dare to take risks before pondering the consequences. Some might call this learning.
Through interactions, children
simultaneously learn
about their values and boundaries, which enable them to see themselves as unique
individuals, and others as well.

Although our children often sing cries
for identity, authenticity, and an affirmation of their own belief systems (or
those shaped by their caregivers at home, healthy or not), as educators, we
must admit that our abilities to fly in formation with them are, under current
professional circumstance, hindered by the reality that often we get our own wings
clipped.

We want to engage our children in
authentic work, yet spend more time analyzing the semantics of assessments. We
allow data to drive us, rather than to inform.Curricular programs lock us into teaching styles that may not reflect
our philosophies. It used to be that one of our professional shortcomings was
that we teach the way we were taught.Nowadays, it seems that we don’t even have this luxury.

With staunch accountability, we teach
the way we are told will produce the best test results.In such, we tend to lose patience with the
birds that are free, expressive, and audacious … eventually finding ways to
inadvertently cage them through regimentation if they are good, and disciplinary procedures if they are different. It is difficult
to see beyond the bars of our own cages, that without the best leadership and
management at the local level, are constructed upon the blueprints of today’s
educational politics.

What is your song? To whom is your song
dedicated?

We know why children sing. As well, we know the songs of educators. Our songs cannot be sung in isolation. Their synchronization
must take place to blend a harmonic movement – a movement that perpetuates
educational autonomy that embraces student voice, and student flight.

Erica Buchanan Rivera
and Ryan Donlan wish to champion a system of schools that allows for educators
to lead and manage in a way that embraces individuality, connectedness,
creativity, and diversity.If you wish
to join their conversation, please be encouraged to contact them at
ebuchanan2@sycamores.instate.edu or at ryan.donlan@indstate.edu.

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